EPA Testimony for May 24, 2012 

Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen. 

My name is Dawud Ummah and I'm here from the great State of Maine 

and a member of the Portland, Maine Branch of the NAACP. I've 

served10 years in the U.S. Air Force 1981-1991, with 8 months of 

service in the Persian Gulf War. Once I got out of the military. I made a 

decision that I was going to earn my living with less destruction to the 

planet that we all must share less pollution to include air, water and 

environment that I'm living in, and less violence to my fellow citizens. I 

moved back Maine after my military service was completed. 

I began farming to grow healthy food vs. killing people that I didn't 

know. I wanted to develop farm property vs. destroying property and 

creating polluting the environment. I joined organizations and started 

to work with those organizations that have these issues at the heart of 

the work they mission. Such Organizations as the NAACP Portland 

Branch, Cumberland County Extension, Maine's Veterans for Peace, The 

Nature Conservancy, The Biodiversity Research Institution and 

educated Ecology. These organizations are working directly and 

indirectly to reverse the effects of the 
carbon pollution and create green jobs now and for the future. We 

know that when we start cleaning up the industrial carbon pollution, 

which had started this global warming we will spark innovation in clean 

technologies and create more American jobs to produce, install, and 

operate these new technologies. That has a direct impact on our health 

and local economies. 

We know that car emissions and other things contribute to carbon 

pollution. However, carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants is 

largely the blame for the climate change that threatens Maine's 

outdoor heritage and quality of life. Every year, power plants dump 

more than 2 billion tons of dangerous carbon pollution and other 

pollutants into the air. While African-American, immigrants and 

refugees from Africa and countries of color normally find ourselves 

living on and around chemicals toxic land fill in and around the Portland 

area where I reside, The Bayside and Riverton Parks area of Portland is 

where a large amount of this resettling is taking place. 

Maine has some of the highest rates of asthma the country. 

Approximately: 

10% of Maine adult currently have asthma compared to 7.8% nationally 

10.7% of Maine's children have asthma compared to 8.9% nationally 
And 16.5% of Maine's non-white population has asthma and affects 

about 128,000 people in our state including 23.000 children. This has a 

big impact on life in our communities. It is estimated that asthma 

causes about 65,000 school absences and 37,500 work absences each 

year. Why does Maine have such high rates? 

Maine is geographically located in what is commonly the "tail-pipe" of 

the United States. Environmental pollutant's carried by air patterns 

lead to high levels of air borne particulate, smog, smoke and soot. 

Maine is subject to high levels of summertime ozone. Maine is a 

densely forested state with high pollen levels. The people of Maine still 

rely heavily on burning wood to heat their homes. 

Dawud Ummah 

dawud.ummah@maine.edu